Waterloo
by Bluejay141519
Summary: Just once Jason wanted a mission to go as planned. Just. One time. Was that too much to ask? Clay!whump with some nice worried Hayes


**Special thanks to the lovely Hannah Rose, for unintentional helping me reevaluate my life.**

 **And also she beta'd this. So that was nice too.**

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 **Jason's P.O.V.**

"Contact rear!"

Just _once,_ I wanna have a mission where the exfil doesn't involve us being shot at.

The call sends us ducking, and unfortunately, it comes from our - _my_ \- rookie. The one I put in the back to watch our tail as we walked. So, while ducking is like an awkward random scramble for the nearest rock that's big enough to offer decent cover; the response is instant and compound, as it needs to be. Shots sound from the hostiles are behind us, as well as Spenser's M4A1. Adrenaline floods my veins, a familiar jolt in my stomach. I push Sonny to the ground right as a round of bullets riddle the hard rock wall next to his head.

A string of swears leaves Sonny's mouth, and while I appreciate the sentiment as more shots go off, I a little busy turning around without getting shot to say anything about it. A few hostile bullets shatter rock off the boulder we're taking cover behind, making me jerk closer to the middle of the boulder we managed to get behind. They came up behind us, and the sharp canyon like walls surrounding us gives them the advantage. They're hiding in the woods just beyond the opening to the trail, and probably waited for us to walk in before coming at us.

Focus. Focus, _focus_ , count them - _one_ (Sonny is right next to him, still swearing as he returns fire) _two_ (Ray to his right, carefully taking a few shots at a time, aiming for whatever he thinks he can hit but not taking any chances with his narrow area of cover), _three_ (Nate to his left, firing with-)

Clay. Clay _Spenser_ , to his left, not totally calm and focused like Nate would be, not trying to hide a smirk as he takes our attackers down, not crouched with a glint of excitement in his eyes.

 _Not_ Nate.

"Jas!" Ray snaps, because even though it's only taken me a few seconds to do this, my best friend knows damn well that if my gun isn't up and firing, then something's wrong.

Still, my eyes linger a second longer on the blond haired man. It's only when I feel Sonny tense next to me that I move, instantly finding the head of a terrorist in my crosshairs and pulling the trigger.

We're doing good for being low on ammo and outnumbered one to six. Sent in to destroy a dangerous jihadist cell, the mission itself went perfect. This particular group of assholes had recently hacked their way to some very dangerous information - information on how the passcodes are created and changed for the DIA.

Sonny killed the hacker responsible, the leader put a bullet in their mouth before Ray could do anything more than blink, and then we set the sky on fire with a bomb in their cell's main hideout, effectively destroying everything. In and out in less than twenty minutes. Clean cut.

Except for one, _minor_ miscalculation.

The building was surrounded by rocky hills and steep ravines, and was at a base elevation of ten thousand feet. The exfil was supposed to pick us up in the same town that the cell was hiding out in, an large flat sandy area on the west side that would be perfect for landing helicopters.

The thirty some odd reinforcements from ' _who the fuck knows_ ' chased us right out the east side, and then we were weaving through sparse trees and tall hearty grass, which broke out into rising cliffs, valleys and a lot of spots for ambushes and not so many spots for cover.

Needless to say, running up hill at ten thousand feet was a fun work out. Doing it while being shot at and having to shoot back was just too much fun for me to handle.

Of course the comms are constantly fading in and out, and I only just managed to get a message out to our extraction team before we lost all signal that they may not want to touch down anywhere near us.

Still. He had put Clay as back security once the sun came up, and however much he ignored the seed of unease at the decision ( _can't see him, can't watch him, Nate died because I wasn't watching him_ ) it was a good decision. The kids warning was quick and on time, and now despite the meer minutes passed between his call and the present, only a few of their pursuers are left standing. I feel a tiny burst of pride at my teams skill and-

-naturally, that's when things go to shit.

Sonny is popping back up with a new round of " _Bring it on fuckers!_ " and I crouch down, letting one spent magazine slide from my gun to reload it with another. I check again - _Sonny, Ray, Clay_ -

A volley of shots snap out, and Spenser snaps backwards, entire body thrown to the ground. He lands on his back, and doesn't move.

"Clay!" I yell, a thrill of fear and adrenaline rushing across my skin.

 _Three seconds. Four seconds, five - six seconds. Seven - he's still not moving - ten seconds, eleven -_

"Cover cover cover!" I scream, the almost random firing of clips by Ray and Sonny turn into full out rapid fire for the two seconds it takes me to cross the narrow strips of gravel.

Bullets spray the ground by my feet, and I slide to one knee, raising my gun to double tap a hostile that made a run for Clay. Keeping one hand on my gun, I reach down and grab the strap of his tac vest and drag him backwards, pulling the trigger a few times in the general direction of the woods to ward off any who try to step out from cover to get a shot at me.

There's an indent in the steep rocky walls that surround us, a sharp alcove that gives plenty of cover but there aren't any angles to shoot from without stepping out from under cover. Trusting the rest of my team to keep them off of us, I drag Clay into the alcove and crouch down.

"Hayes!" Sonny calls.

"We're clear!" I yell back, and the shots die down, from our side at least. Or what I assume is our side. It's a push pull - I'm here, I have Spenser, and we're safe from the current rain of bullets. But now I can't see Ray or Sonny.

Everything's too loud, to dark, and it every shot fired makes me jerk. My breathing echoes in my ears, sharp and shallow, and it takes a second - _too long, too much_ \- for me to drag my mind back to the issue on hand. The gunfire is dying down, and I can at least hear Sonny yelling swears, which leads me to believe they're both doing fine.

"Clay." I whisper, shoving my gun to the side and pressing two fingers to his neck, gripping his shoulder with the other. A fast but strong pulse helps me push the panic down, and I grit my teeth, forcing my breathing to slow.

"Hey kid. Clay you hear me?" I call, ducking my head to get a closer look at his face, searching for any signs of a head wound. There's no blood that I can see, so I fumble with the strap for helmet until the thing comes off. Pulling out my flashlight, I'm carefully turning his head to the side, running a hand through his hair to feel any bumps or warmness that could indicate a head wound that's bleeding. The entire time I get nothing from the man, and it isn't until I flick the beam of the flashlight across each eye to check his pupils, do I get a moan. I sit back instantly, letting his eyes close, and of course they stubbornly stay that way. Pulling back, I scan his body, running my hands along his sides and arms, looking for anything that might clue me in to where he's hit.

And I find _nothing_.

No, no this is not - no.

With a frustrated growl, I lean forward, hitting his face a few times.

"Hey! Hey Spenser come on, talk to me." His eyelids flutter for a few seconds and I'm losing time, if he's bleeding from somewhere I need to find it and I need to find it _now_.

"Look at me Clay!" I yell, grabbing his chin and forcing my face to lay in his field of vision. "Where are you hit?!" Dazed eyes blink sluggishly back at me, and he looks so out of it, so not here, so much like he's somewhere else.

I am _not_ losing this kid.

I can him again, methodically doing a physical check and running my hands over his shoulders, chest, and abdomen, doing what I've already done _again_ , because clearly I missed _something_ , and if he's this out of it then that _something_ is pretty important.

I take it back. I _can't_ lose this kid, not when he's so much like Nate, not when it's another person under _my_ command, who was following _my_ orders.

Not like this.

I can't find anything. I can't find where the bullet hit him, but I know it had to have, because SEALs are not in the business of flopping to the ground for fun in the middle of firefights.

"Clay. Clay you gotta tell me where...you gotta talk to me kid. Come on."

The tired blue eyes look at me, vague recognition sparking through a haze.

"Hayes?" He breathes, and it sounds tight and raspy. Then It must have been a chest wound, but why can't I find…

 _Oh_.

My fingers ghost over his tac vest, finding the now obvious indent in his radio. Digging my nails in I pry out the a smushed bullet from the remains of his comm.

I sit back on one knee and stare at the piece of metal, and a feeling not unlike breaking the surface of water right when you're about to drown floods through me. I drop the bullet to the ground, breathing out hard through my lips.

It's, ironically, the same moment Clay gets back to reality. I can actually see the clouds clear from his head as he sits up fast, eyes wide and slightly panicked.

"Easy, easy." I grab his shoulders, keeping him upright as he goes slack again, groaning in pain.

"Fucking shit." He mutters, then his gaze flickers around. "Where- what happened?! Is it over?! Do we need to - I still have enough ammo, do you - where's Sonny and Ray?!"

"Do you not know what 'easy' means? Just get your bearings for a few seconds, then we'll move." And because I'm not really doing this for his comfort, I touch the button on my own radio.

"Bravo one to bravo two, do you copy?"

" _Bravo two copy_." That's Ray. We aren't that far from the rest of the team, but I don't want to be yelling out across the ravine.

"You guys alright?"

" _Nice and dandy. How's the kid?" That's_ definitely Sonny.

"Radio's dark, but it died an honorable death. We clear to move?"

" _Well they've stopped shooting at us, if that's what you're asking. You want us back with you?"_

"Bravo two hold one." I glance at Spenser, who's sitting up now and checking his weapon.

" _Copy."_

"I'm good." He says, reloading and checking the safety without looking up.

"Bravo two move at your discretion. Be advised, bravo one can give no cover."

" _Bravo two moving._ "

Sharp footsteps are heard, and a few moments free of gunshots pass before they appear, tucking into the same alcove as us. I stand, and Sonny reaches out a hand to Clay, who accepts it with a wince.

"Ow." He rasps once he's standing. Ray looks at his vest and rolls his eyes.

"Listen kid, we're old. You can't pull that shit. _Especially_ with this one here." He punches me in the shoulder and Clay actually _smiles_ when I glare at him.

"You know if I wasn't currently in need of your hospitality…" I let the threat stand, open ended.

Ray just laughs, the all knowing bastard.

"Shut up Jason, you love me and you know it."

"Before I grow a pair of ovaries from this conversation can we get a move on?"

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 **Ta-daaa! What'd y'all think? Okay for my first try?**


End file.
